How To Eat Healthy For Less

[Anonymous]

A healthy diet is a diet that is sustainable, that provides nutrients for the body, and that maintains a healthy body weight with normal bodily functions.

Everybody wants a healthy diet, because seriously, who wants to die of malnutrition, obesity and other food-related ailments?

A healthy diet is normally thought of as "expensive" or "more costly" than an unhealthy diet. Well, that may be true, but I am going to show you that it is definitely possible to eat healthy for cheap.

A Variety of Different Foods

Checking Out Websites and Ads for Promotions and Coupons

You can find deals and promotions on a weekly basis. Sometimes, the old weekly ad will still be available and valid while the new weekly aid is posted; then, you can get double the discounts.

Creating a Shopping List

A shopping list can potentially keep you from impulse buys, which may add to your grocery bill.

Planning the Shopping Route

It is much more effective to plan your own shopping route ahead of time. Then, you can go to all your grocery store locations in a time-effective manner.

Emergency Food Supply

During an emergency of any sort, you should have an emergency food supply at home. That way, you don't get trapped at the store with a bazillion people waiting at the check-out line in the middle of a pandemic. Your emergency food supply should be shelf-stable, such as white rice (which can last up to 5 years in the pantry), wheat flour (to make breads and noodles), oats (to make oatmeal porridge), canned/dried/frozen fruits and vegetables, tofu and other Asian soy products, dried nuts and seeds (great for snacking and cooking), and canned/dried meat. If you can't afford all of that stuff, then you should at least buy a big sack of white rice and eat watery rice porridge every day as a low-calorie famine food.

[WindAtMyBack]

Nutrition is one of those things that the more you learn, the more you realize how much you don't know. It can be very complicated. But it all points back to one thing. It points to what most of us already know. We know that fruits and veggies are good for us, and that junk food and processed food is not.

That is a huge start. Beyond that, you start getting diminishing returns. You can do all kinds of studying about nutrition, and if you are able to sustain the diet, you can get a little more out of it.

I like to simplify it. Buy more from the produce section, and less of everything else. There are definitely good foods in other parts of the store, but just that one thing will go a very long way. It's simple and easy to remember. Make produce a high priority. Learn which produce you will actually eat, because it doesn't do any good to buy it and not eat it.

To save money, know the stores and what they sell.

Go to farmer's markets. Sellers at farmer's markets are not all farmers. Some of those guys buy food at the regular grocery store when it's on sale, and resell it at a markup. Know your prices.

Buy from roadside stands. These places are great! Just walking through there exudes health. Walking through there makes you feel like "If only I would eat this kind of stuff every day I'd be so much more healthy." Roadside stands are not as common as they used to be. But they still exist. Get away from the city and look around.

You-pick-it. If there are places near you where you can pick your own food, do it. It can be MUCH cheaper than the grocery store. Get it when it's in season. Pick a bunch of it and learn to can, preserve, pickle, etc.

Don't throw away the juice of store bought picked foods. Keep the juice and jar, slice some crispy vegetables, and throw them in the juice where they will keep for a long time.

Grow your own. Even a fairly small garden, like a few square meters, can produce a fair amount of food. A larger garden like 10 sq meters can produce a LOT of food. When it's time for supper, walk out the door and pick it. You can't get any more fresh than that.

Keeping up the garden itself is healthy too. It's good for you physical and mental health.

There are a lot of variations of the saying:

If you want to be happy for an hour, get drunk.
If you want to be happy for life, be a gardener.

Save seeds from store bought veggies. The seeds from a lot of hybrid foods won't produce well when grown. But some will do very well. Don't throw out those seeds from peppers and other veggies. Put them somewhere and let them dry. Plant them next spring. Some will produce.

[Anonymous]

Millennials aren't going to listen, they're the fattest generation I've ever seen. They love fatty, sugary foods because they taste good, not because they're cheap. I just had a salad for lunch and I am far from rich.

I miss the good old days when women were thinner and not the land whales known as millennials.

[LLYN-95]

go jump off a cliff you sack of shit. I'm sure you're ugly as shit mr anonymous and your dick couldn't satisfy any desperate bitch.

[Opinion Owner]

@LLYN-95 typical feminist millennial. I do not find fat women attractive, I do not see anything wrong with that.

[LLYN-95]

Typical sexust pig.

"I miss the good old days when women were thinner and not the land whales known as millennials."

That comment is unnecessary there are plenty of thin millennials today you pig.

With that attitude no bitch wants you

[jazzygirl0826]

Dude, what the hell? That's so insulting, take it back!

[Opinion Owner]

@jazzygirl0826 why? Being fat is unhealthy. And millennials are much fatter than their ancestors.

[jazzygirl0826]

Not necessarily. Some people have a high body fat percentage (x>30%) and they eat healthy and exercise. Just admit that you are a jerk that loves to body-shame women and move on.

[Opinion Owner]

@jazzygirl0826 typical feminist drivel.

[jazzygirl0826]

Okay, this is either a joke or you're just a terrible person. I'm technically not a millennial, but you sure as hell are!!! hahahhahahaha. Millennials were born from 1981 – 1996, and if you are 30-35 then you were born around then. So, stop talking trash about your own generation you pig.

[Massageman]

Kind of looks like your take is a two-for-one help - cheap eats and emergency preparation. but I digress - - - - -

You have some good info there - thanks.
Oats are under-rated as an emergency staple, or even an everyday commodity to have available. Of course you can add the hot water and cook the oatmeal into a hot cereal/porridge. But, oatmeal can also be put through a food processor/blender/mortar and pestle to create a very versatile flour, important if you are planning for long-term famine support. A big health difference between oat flour and wheat flour (other than that oats are really a grass, while wheat is a grain), is that oats have the water-soluble fiber beta-glucan in substantial proportions.

[Anonymous]

Having worked in grocery for a few years, the kind known to peddle all that "organic, healthy" and "coupon cutter" karen bs, let me be a bit more straight with this:

-"Promotions" and more so, "coupons" are often complete BS that saves you relatively little or nothing. Ya know that whole "2 for 3" BS? REALITY is often 1 costs 1.5, so no reason to buy 2, except to fall for BS. Coupons sometimes work, but if a place relies on it so much to affordable, the place is likely overpriced so look elsewhere.

-Places like Walmart, Costco and Aldi are better bets. They don't pander as much to the whole "coupons" and "promotions" bullshit and give a decent price without the extra assfuckery. If those aren't available, look for similar or even order stuff online and look for places that are already low prices and NOT for places that near force coupons to barely afford it, cause trust me, the places that do push coupons are only going to get stricter with how they take them and your coupon pettiness for 40 cents off holds up the 5+ other customers in line. Side note, no, I don't feel bad not supporting few of a billion farmer's markets or small, organic groceries "to help the community and be healthier." I'll shop where I can damn afford to and Ill find my own path to eat healthy, even if from Aldi's. Yes, some small businesses will go bankrupt. LET THEM. It's not your problem and blunt truth, that "mom and pop" grocery is often just a guilty as the CEO who begs for bailouts. Both likely have the newest iphone as well as expensive, barely used toys. Let. Them. Fail. It's healthy for the economy which has had 104+ degree fever for over a decade. You do you, save every penny you can, you focus on YOU.

-Shopping lists and route planning are fine, but its better to just learn flat out willpower. That stuff is akin to having to have an app for every little task there is. It's often not needed and a waste of time. Do what is nessecery, nothing more.
-Emergency food is fine, that's why having at least some idea of what is going on past that road of the school you went to is important.

My workaround to good food that although I know some health snobs would pick at, but at least are decent, are a tuna/hummus combo, pinnapple, seltzer water (non bitter), and banana/peanut butter combos. Fish in my opinion, is very underrated, and when I say fish, I mean tilapea, salmon, tuna and the like, not roaches of the sea, aka lobster/crab. (it's true, look it up). Oh also, I love cheese, but I find milk as overrated as soda and both seem pretty bad, so I say, eh, coffee water is cheaper anyways and go with it, even as a way to cool down coffee (which I sometimes mix with tea, if I get it at all). Soup too. Some soup is amazing. Same with beans.

Now, I say the last paragraph as somebody who gets annoyed to death of health gurus and stuff, so I want to give all this info not as some "influencer" like asslicker, but as something straight forward, and importantly, quite damn money saving.

[Kurαȷ]

Yeeah, if you want to eat healthy for less you buy legumes such as lentils.

Rice and wheat flour aren't "healthy" in any conceivable definition of the word.
They are literally some of the absolutely worst stuff that a human can eat.
Straight up ice cream is better for you than rice and wheat flour.

[myTake Owner]

Ice cream contains milk and cream, and lactose intolerance is actually the majority of the human population. The American population is actually an anomaly, because most people in America are descended from the dairy-farming European populations. Plus, ice cream cannot be diluted. You have to eat straight out of the box.

In contrast, wheat flour can be made into soft steamed buns, and the steamed buns can be filled with vegetables, so you get a whole meal in a package. White rice can also be diluted to make watery rice porridge, and you'll consume way more water than rice. Watery rice porridge is actually very low-calorie, and if you need fiber and nutrients, you get them from cooked vegetables as side dishes. Just look up "Korean banchan" and you'll see what I mean.

Plus, wheat flour and rice are pronounceable ingredients, while ice cream may contain boatloads of additives, preservatives and flavorings.

[t-8900]

processed grains are a problem. But unrefined grains are not the issue. I substitute rice with pearl barley for my filler and I replace wheat with oats and hand make my own oat and legume bread.

[Prof_Don]

The cold hard truth is... to eat healthfully at home on a tight budget, one MUST spend time prepping and cooking food!

Excellent point about an emergency food stash! Rice, oats & dry beans should be in the cabinet at ALL times!

[Massageman]

You're right - Rice and oats would be my choice too. Wheat flour? It's OK, but not my first choice. I can always grind down the oats into a flour as I do for one particular cookie I make. Ditto the rice, if I have more time. Also, I would be sure there is oil and cornstarch to make a roux to be able to make cream soups, sauces, gravies, and even dust in body as a "powder".

[tallandsweet]

I can say from experience that eating healthy, organic, fresh food is NOT more expensive than eating unhealthy foods IF you cook yourself.
If you eat out all the time, both options are expensive - but if you manage to cook yourself, life will be a lot cheaper and inexpensive for you.

[Daniel3035]

You got no idea what your talking about do you?
Healthy food how to eat it...
Consumer: Yah
Checking Out Websites and Ads for Promotions and Coupons
Consumer:Yah
...
Emergency Food Supply
Consumer: So where's the healthy food...

You didn't even mention the word "calories"...

[jgokgotit]

Love this MyTake. I just posted a question called "Can you help me as I become a vegetarian?".

[Avicenna]

Avoiding processed foods and eating a lot of fruits, vegetables, nuts and lean proteins is key. Portion size is crucial for things other than fruits and veggies.

[Agape93]

Yeah, relying on coupons and promos in order to make healthy things affordable isn’t sustainable.

[errorgoodnameunfound]

THANK YOU! Geez, that's a huge mistake all those "you should eat healthy" asshats often push. This isn't fucking 2004. Who has time for coupons or hell taking hours of the day for some often dirty overpriced farmers market? Sorry, but most people don't have money/times growing from trees ya know?

[Agape93]

Exactly. I make a decent salary and I couldn’t afford that and still have a savings. I’d have to make a trip to the store at least once a week to buy everything fresh again, and often the coupons out here are for things like laundry detergent.

[errorgoodnameunfound]

Wow, decent salary and still can't? Wow. Proves point even more though. My personal tidbit is go for stores so cheap, they don't need coupons. May take more work to find healthier stuff, but can be possible. in my opinion, places in 2020 that still push coupons are usually scammy but I understand people don't always have many choices.

[oddwaffle]

Fresh vegetables
Frozen vegetables
Beef liver
Pork
Chicken
Firm tofu
Soy sauce

These are cheap and nutritious.

[errorgoodnameunfound]

fish? how bout fish? goddam fish is so underrated.

[triff]

We all like to eat healthy but the bad is so moreish Tge textures of the veggy meats isn't quite there Taste will improve I'm sure

[t-8900]

you dont need to eat veggie meats to eat healthy. You can easily eat regular meat and steamed veggies on the side.

[triff]

Thank you

[ahmadali01]

Eating healthy on a tight budget can be challenging.

[caramelapplered30]

I always go to The farmers market, fresh is healthy for me personally

[Gedaria]

But it's what you eat. You can still be obese, even eating healthy..
It's a balanced diet. The right amount of fats carbs protein.
Plus vitamins.
But you have to be happy what you eat...

[Darcia]

99 cent only store look for the green and purple logo.

[SuccessfulHornDog]

Frozen vegetables are often healthier than fresh ones that you buy and don't use right away

[t-8900]

thats true but salads are amazing and good luck with freezing that lol.

[SuccessfulHornDog]

@t-8900 Yeah, Lettuce does not freeze well.

[t-8900]

sadly and I like my crispys. Crispy romaine with grilled chicken breast, egg, tomato, onion, bell pepper, and cucumber. YUM!

[SuccessfulHornDog]

@t-8900 I hate it when I put a salad in the fridge and it is too close to the cooling mechanism and ruins it by the next day

[t-8900]

yeah I usually stop at the store after work to pick stuff up fresh and make it. I have the protein cooked the day before then I throw it on. Grilled Chicken Caesar is bomb and so is Chicken+Egg+Blue Cheese yum.

[mrArcher]

Eating healthy also involves removing things from your diet that are unhealthy. Such as SODA. Or snickers bars.

[John_Doesnt]

Cigarettes are pretty cheap. Buy a pack of cigs and lose weight. Doctor recommended.

[John_Doesnt]

@jixita that's less than minimum wage in California. Most of us are working from home.

[errorgoodnameunfound]

So, smoke cancer sticks and somehow lose weight. Thanks doc. Sounds brilliant.

[Anonymous]

I definitely cannot eat that much carbs. Based on what my doc said

[Single104]

Do not smoke, do not drink alcohol and soft drinks, and every day take a walk